Lords of the Fallen (2023)
First of all, it annoys me that I have to specify the year, since they ridiculously decided to use the same name of a game from 2014 in what I guess is a weird but crass attempt to leverage the extremely limited success of the original game.
Anyway, LotF (2023) has nothing to do with LotF (2014), other than that they are both mediocre Dark Souls clones. The 2014 game actually had its own feel, as it was very slow and clunky, while the 2023 game just feels like playing a budget version of Dark Souls. It adds some stuff, like a completely tedious lamp item you have to constantly pull out to check for secrets and even mandatory paths forward. The graphics are allegedly amazing, but there is absolutely no artistry at all, and every area is basically all the same color, with no attempt to guide your exploration. The maps are tiny, but it's extremely easy to get lost, because everything looks the same. I refunded right at two hours.
The Surge
This is basically sci-fi Dark Souls, developed by the people that did Lords of the Fallen 2014. It's actually quite decent, and adds a lot to the Souls formula. You basically choose either a fast/weak or slow/strong exo-suit at first, and from then there's just a handful of weapon types. However, each weapon type has a pretty extensive set of moves, so using one-handed weapons feels quite different from dual wielding, etc. Outside of that, the biggest decision you make for character customization is your implants. Meanwhile, you need to upgrade the "core" level of your exo-suit, which just adds more slots for better equipment, more implants, etc.
It's a crazy future world where crippled people are shipped off to be fitted with exo-suits to "do what they can" for a megacorp, but what you realize immediately is that the exo-suit isn't something you fit into, but something that is permanently attached to you (shown in a horrifying video where something malfunctions and your character is forced to undergo this without anesthesia). Meanwhile, the spokesperson/CEO of the company is all over the place in billboards telling you how amazing Apple, I mean Microsoft, I mean, Google, I mean CREO is, while you are surrounded by maniacs driven insane by their connection to the constantly online grid. It's like System Shock mixed with Dark Souls.
The level design is quite awesome, and unlike the latter Dark Souls games, you just get a single safe spot within an area, but unlock shortcuts back as you explore. Like with Dark Souls, you encounter NPCs with their own quests, but the quests tend to be pretty straightforward; he wants you to find drugs, she wants you to find an awesome staff.
Combat is a bit of a mess, sadly. Enemies are pretty unpredictable, and it's also hard to read their animation. Like you, the enemies are mostly humans trapped inside monstrous machines, so it's hard to tell from where an attack will come. Sometimes, enemies just suddenly run at you and flail widly, and you simply cannot react. Even worse, blocking seems to be inconsistent. There's no real differentiation in animation between a blockable and unblockable attack. Sometimes an enemy will just swing his arm and you'll take full damage even when blocking. In other words, you simply cannot rely on blocking in this game, so you are constantly hopping back and to the side to dodge everything. But because of the spastic animation, it can be very hard to figure it out.
Anyway, other than Nioh, it's the best Dark Souls clone I've played so far.
